Babe, Terror - Knights

Babe, Terror - Knights
Based in Sao Paulo, Babe, Terror debuted in 2009 with Weekend, and since then has continued to conduct home-brewed experiments in what he calls "wrong dance music," using vocals, presets and FX pedals to create decompositions, reverting his sound sources by processing and modification into a raw silk state. Knights, his latest mini-album, is the seamy side of contemporary dance fabric exposed. Imagine The Field subject to five further phases of distortion and you'll have some idea of what awaits you here.

Opener "Lifantastic 1" sets the tone of lo-fi extremism and psychedelic obfuscation, its drum machine pumping away like a pair of 19th century bellows as cut-up vocals drown in a slurry of echo and granulated detritus. The more ominous "Savagestic" opens with click-clacking and then the sinister hoving of phantasmagorical drones emerging vengefully as if from some sunken landfill of long discarded pop and rock history. "Cleric" is a brief, holy invocation, dominated by a flute motif and a ritual, ectoplasmic swirl. "Lifantastic II" ascends and evolves from the point at which the opening track left off, beset by giant worms of electric guitar but also lovely shapeshifts, reminders of what a pleasurable, as well as challenging, experience Knights represents. Finally, there's a relative feeling of clarity and aftermath on "War," despite its title—or perhaps it's simply a case of becoming accustomed to the half-light and adjusted focus of Babe, Terror's sound world.